DIRECTOR
Lee Tamahori
SCREENWRITER
Pete Dexter
STORY
BY
Pete Dexter
Floyd Mutrux
PRODUCERS
Lili Fini Zanuck
Richard D. Zanuck
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Haskell Wexler
MUSIC
Dave Grusin
EDITOR
Sally Menke
CAST
Nick Nolte (Max Hoover)
Melanie Griffith (Katherine)
Chazz Palminteri (Elleroy Coolidge)
Michael Madsen (Eddie Hall)
Chris Penn (Relyea)
Treat Williams (Colonel Fitzgerald)
Jennifer Connelly (Allison Pond)
Daniel Baldwin (McCafferty)
Andrew McCarthy (Jimmy Fields)
John Malkovich (General Timms)
Kyle Chandler (Captain)
Ed Lauter (Earl)
Aaron Neville (Nite Spot Singer)
Bruce Dern (The Chief)
Louise Fletcher (Esther)
Rob Lowe (Hoodlum)
William L. Petersen (Mafia Mobster)
MPAA rating: R
Running
time: 107m
U.S. release: April 26, 1996
Video availability: VHS
Other Lee
Tamahori films
reviewed on this site:
- Along
Came a Spider
- Die
Another Day
Not to be
confused with:
- Mulholland
Drive, a much better film
|
To
what extent should a new movie be compared with an acknowledged
classic if the new movie invites the comparison? Probably to
no extent, as long as the new movie earns the comparison
and holds up on its own merits. The very title of Mulholland
Falls carries a whiff of Chinatown, whose character
Hollis Mulwray (the husband of Faye Dunaway's Evelyn Mulwray)
was based on the Los Angeles robber baron William Mulholland.
And its style, from Dave Grusin's period score to Haskell Wexler's
lush photography, cements the likeness.
The sad fact is that, even if there were no Chinatown,
Mulholland Falls would still be a bore. It breaks my heart
to have to write that. Look at the cast: Nick Nolte, Chazz Palminteri,
Chris Penn and Michael Madsen from Reservoir
Dogs, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Connolly, John Malkovich,
Andrew McCarthy getting slapped around (which is almost worth
the ticket price). Check out the director: Lee Tamahori, whose
1994 New Zealand debut, Once Were Warriors, ranks among
the most powerful and electrifying dramas of the decade. How
could it miss?
Let me count the ways. Partly it's the script. Pete Dexter, usually
a top-notch scenarist (Paris Trout), has misplaced his
knack for subtle characterization. His four heroes (Nolte, Palminteri,
Madsen, Penn), based on the real-life LAPD Hat Squad of the 1950s,
are nearly identical. Nolte is married (to Griffith), Palminteri
is in therapy for his temper, and that's about it for their characters.
As for Madsen and Penn, they have almost nothing to do. Talk
about wasted talent.
Partly it's the plot, which involves a military cover-up of atomic
experiments. Nolte and his partners investigate a murder that
leads them far outside their jurisdiction. What does the military
do to get Nolte off the case? They threaten him with ... a compromising
film of himself and the murder victim. Ooh, scary. Actually,
that wouldn't be a bad idea if the movie suggested that the military
wants to frame Nolte for the murder. But that never seems to
occur to the moviemakers.
Partly it's the direction. Lee Tamahori has been a great director
before, and I'm sure he'll be great again, but in Mulholland
Falls he's just spinning his wheels. In Once Were Warriors,
he showed an intimate understanding of the pain of violence.
Here, the screen is full of beatings and shootings, but it causes
us no pain. Neither does the troubled relationship between Nolte
and Griffith. Or the mournful flame Nolte carries for the murder
victim. Nolte is playing a guy who keeps a tight lid on his emotions;
Tamahori seems to be doing the same thing.
Mostly, incredibly, it's the cast. Nobody here does anything
he or she hasn't done before. Take Nolte's hat off, and you've
got his 48 HRS. cop. Griffith's kewpie-doll voice is not
aging well at all. And John Malkovich, as the creepy general
supervising the atomic testing, can no longer be bothered to
give a performance. He just shows up and delivers his lines in
his usual dead monotone that says "This movie is beneath
me." In the case of Mulholland Falls, he may be right. |